6/30/11

The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. It opened at 6316 San Vicente Boulevard in 1926 and was considered developer J. Harvey McCarthy's most successful monument, a stroke of shrewd thinking that made a famous name of the newly developed Carthay residential district in the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, California.

Design

The exterior design was in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, with whitewashed concrete trimmed in blue, with a high bell tower and neon sign that could be seen for miles. The architects were Carleton Winslow and Dwight Gibbs. The auditorium itself was shaped in the form of a perfect circle set inside a square that fleshed out the remainder of the building. The iconic octagonal tower was placed in the front corner spandrel space left between the circle and the square. The auditorium's cylinder-shaped wall was raised up above the roof line, to create a parapet visible from the outside that resembled a circus tent. "Simple, massive and dignified, the building stands out for its intrinsic beauty," raved The Architect and Engineer. Pacific Coast Architect wrote that it was a theatre "masked as a cathedral".

There was a drop curtain that featured an homage to the pioneer Donner Party, which perished crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Bronze busts of Native American leaders and photographs of Lillie Langtry and other 19th century actors adorned the lounges and lobbies. Paintings of historic scenes forty feet tall graced the walls.

Premieres

The theatre hosted the official premieres of The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Romeo and Juliet (1936), Walt Disney's first animated feature length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Gone with the Wind (1939), among many other notable films. For Disney's Fantasia (1940), the most elaborate audio system in use at the time, Fantasound, a pioneering stereophonic process, was installed at this theatre.

For the glamorous world premiere of MGM's Marie Antoinette (1938), with Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power, the gardens around the theater were restructured and enhanced to resemble the landscaping of the Palace of Versailles. In the 1930s and '40s, props from the sets of such premiered films as The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Good Earth (1937), Captains Courageous (1937) and Gone With the Wind (1939) were displayed on the grassy median of McCarthy Vista, from Wilshire Boulevard south to San Vicente Boulevard. The premieres were red-carpet events, with the stars of the motion picture arriving in limousines at the entrance to the covered walkway to the theater south from San Vicente and cheered by hundreds of fans in bleachers there, accompanied by searchlights scanning the sky. Only Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood also had such elaborate premieres in that era.

Decline

By the 1960s the Carthay was considered obsolete, overshadowed by modern cinemas; its customer base had also been sapped by suburbanization. The theater was demolished in 1969; today, two low-rise office buildings and a city park occupy its former site. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

I'm not finding any information about the manufacturer, Tichnor Art Company of Los Angeles. So who were these artists that toiled in the back rooms creating these images. Was it freelance work or in-house?

6/29/11

Another vintage postcard with a nighttime scene; this one an original drawing. Unlike many of the other cards which are hand tinted photographs, this is purely an artist's rendition. I'm sure they worked from a photo, but would it have looked half as clean and fresh if the underlying image were a photo?

Click on either image to see it larger.

It's a shame that the person who created this will most likely never be known.

Go here to see the first nighttime postcard image that started this series for me.

6/28/11

Even I can tell how fake this nighttime scene is of Times Square. I have to wonder what the artist wast thinking when they put the moon on top of the Paramount Building. My first thought was of Ghostbusters. Somethin' strange is surely going on because back down on the street we're about to have some serious car crashes and some people needing to run for their lives. Oh yes, that is a haunted sky surrounding the jello colored scene. The Paramount building has most assuredly been slimed.

Click on either image to see it larger.

To see more hand tinted postcard images of nighttime scenes click here, here, here, and here.

Here is my favorite image from the book Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities which started my search for nighttime postcards. I can only wish to find a card like this. It's stunning and goes way beyond a normal postcard. Sad to think that artists that did work such as this are now nameless. The postcard above...no problem not knowing the "artist," but the one below is in another realm.

6/27/11

The artist who worked on this must have been bored adding the color to the audience. They skipped around as if playing Chess for the first time. Red here, blue here, and then "what the heck do I do with the pukey lemon/lime color?" One poor woman, in the middle got an orange coat and a puckey lemon/lime face and hair. The pukey lemon/lime seems to have been the most odd color to use. And I'm not sure, but I believe there is a floating lemon/lime jello mold floating above the chorus on stage. The flag is most certainly an artist's rendering.

Click on image to see it larger.

This is truly a very odd odd world that was created in this image. The Blob people in the park.

This is a Curt Teich Linen card distributed by Aero Distributing Co., Inc., Chicago, Illinois. I'm not finding anything about Aero; a lot of cards, but no historical information.

To see other nighttime postcards click here, here, and here; all inspired by the book Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities.

6/26/11

The information in Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities becomes even more interesting as I look through my collection of vintage postcards. I start to find examples of what the author writes about.

Click on image to see it larger.

"Most nighttime postcard views were daytime photographs doctored to appear as if taken after dark. Use of daytime photos to replicate the night introduced many anomalies in finished cards. For example, daytime shadows often remained. When a bright moon was inserted in a darkened sky, the moonlight implied was often inappropriate to the shadows depicted. Especially problematical were the small shadows cast by pedestrians and vehicles, their impossibility of angle all too apparent. As one deltiologist noted: “Darkening the sky, lighting the windows, and adding a moon could…turn a day scene into a nocturnal one, but all to often the printer failed to remove the shadows cast by the sun and then tipped his moon in an obviously impossible position (Ryan 146). Other anomalies included American flags left flying (countering prohibitions on after-dark flag displays) and kinds of people remaining as pedestrians, especially unescorted women, who would not have been seen in big city downtown after dark." (SOURCE: Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities)

And this is another card from the Harry Heye Tammen Company. Note the little Mesoamerican figure on the back, the companies logo.

Now take a moment to look at this busy "night scene" and tell me if you think this was actually day for night. I'm seeing far too many women out for leisurely strolls.

6/25/11

As I mentioned yesterday, I purchased a book called Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities which has inspired me to go through some of my vintage postcards searching for night scenes, real or simply imagined by the manufacturer.

The one below of Salt Lake City, Utah is a prime example of the company trying something but failing miserably. Proportion is way off. I mean WAY OFF!

Click on image to see it larger.

Look at the cars. Tons of cars. Cars jammed in with no room to even open a car door to get out. Then look at the cars on the left side of the street, their size in comparison to the street lights. Oh sure, the artist was trying to draw perspective, but it looks like they had a bunch of VW Beetles parked along the street, very very tiny Beetles.

And then there's the car driving down the righthand lane. Why so close to the backend of each parked car? It's a wide street. They even make a point of bragging about the wide street:

This is an excellent night view of alt Lake City's main business thoroughfare. Note the unusual width of the street so typical of all streets in Mormon communities.

Huh? Mormon's were known for their wide streets? Okay, I'll leave that alone. It's just odd.

What's also odd is that the left side of the street seems to be the "dry" side while the right side is where the honky tonk "cafes" are located. Remember, when this shot was "taken" you could not buy liquor or even a Coke in this town. So as to what was going on on the two sides of the same street...one can only imagine.

I can't find anything about the manufacturer, Carpenter Paper Co., other than that they began operations in 1896.

6/24/11

I recently bought a fascinating book called Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities by John A. Jakle, a professor of geography at the University of Illinois. The book was published in 2003 by the Museum of New Mexico Press.

Page after page of beautiful nighttime postcard images from all across the U. S. There's one of the Pittsburgh Pirates stadium at night that I'd love to own. And some amazing shots of San Francisco at night, including Chinatown.

The introduction written by Mr. Jakle is fascinating. I'll quote just one small bit:

"Postcard publishers engaged freely in the alteration or manipulation of photographs, producing highly "fictionalized" pictorial art masquerading as realistic. Touch-up work produced cleaner, simplified images, making the places pictured seem less complicated and tidier and, perhaps, more salable as postcard views. Conversely, places might be made to appear more complicated and thus, presumably, more interesting.... Many if not most postcards, she concluded were a 'composite of fantasy, boosterism, wishful thinking, simplification, and outright lie.' Especially was nighttime postcard depiction a product of revision. As a matter of fact, most nighttime views were contrived from daytime photographs and were not, strictly speaking, nighttime photos at all." (SOURCE: Postcards of the Night: Views of American Cities)

Just as I often suspected when looking at some of the nighttime skies, they were fake.

And to read more about the book simply go to the second item down in the Tattered and Lost What-Not Suggestions column to the left.

6/22/11

Imagine living longer, enjoy life, have strength and stamina, brute power, excel at any sport, run longer and faster, lift heaviest possible weights, and best of all make bullies run the other way. All this for $1.00! Who wouldn't buy it?

Click on image to see it larger.

This piece of junk was brought to you buy Medford Products, Inc. in Betty and Veronica Summer Fun published by Archie Comic Publication in September 1962. Medford Products was formed on March 14, 1955 and is now dead. That's what it says on this page. It's DEAD. So apparently the product was not powerful enough to give the company a long life.

Again, if anyone has had personal experience with this product I'd love to hear from you. I know there had to be kids who actually bought these comic book items, otherwise the companies couldn't have stayed alive as long as they did.

6/21/11

If we were deceived by the wrist radio from yesterday, what's the deception in the item below?

Even if I'd saved enough allowance money to purchase this doll house with "all modern conveniences" and a "beautiful grass lawn that actually grows on our magic soil" my folks would have said "no!" So comic book ads were like wish books, the Sears Christmas catalogue on a smaller scale. Each comic provided numerous items that I'd dream about buying. Of course, kids don't read the fine print. We looked at the pictures. We determined what the value of the toy was by how it was being shown and that's what advertisers like Honest House counted on.

Click on image to see it larger.

If we did read the copy we weren't very good at reading between the lines. We'd see "excitement," "sensational," "little princess," and "magic." Our folks on the other hand would see "the special material used and mass production techniques" and "easy assembly instructions."

So again I ask, did anyone ever buy one of these? How fast did it fall apart? What exactly was the magic soil? Has anyone ever seen one for sale on ebay? I do recall seeing a metal dollhouse like I actually owned for sale several years ago. Alas, mine never came out of storage after our move to Hawaii, not that I'd have a place to put it.

This ad is from the 18th issue of Betty and Veronica Summer Fun published by Archie Comic Publication in September 1962.

6/20/11

Even today when I first see this ad I think, "Cool, wrist radios that allow me to talk to other kids!" This would have solved a lot of problems during childhood when my best friend and I were sick at the same time. Instead of cutting letters out of construction paper and holding them up to our bedroom windows at night while shinning a flashlight at them in a futile attempt to spell out words, window to window, and generally getting sleepy before either of us ever managed to spell out a complete sentence...talking into our wrists would have been A LOT easier.

Click on image to see it larger.From the February 1964 "She's Josie" comic book published by Radio Comics.

Ahhhh, but no, this is not what they're selling. Read the copy. Even if the ad makes it look like these kids are talking to each other, what you've really got is just a small transistor radio. I'm betting it was made in Japan, which at that time generally meant it was junk. Boy how times have changed.

I would love to know of anyone who ever bought one of these. I wonder if any still exist or did kids stomp on them when they arrived, angry that they'd been "duped" by a company called Honor House. I cannot find any information about Honor House other than a lot of other ads for junk toys which most surely disappointed every child who anxiously waited by their mailbox for their special delivery.

6/19/11

It's Sunday and maybe you're thinking of doing a little online shopping. HAVE I GOT SOME DEALS FOR YOU!!!!

When you're thinking of Tombstones, asthma, jewelry, free food, or just listening to the radio on the farm...LOOK NO FURTHER. Shop at Tattered and Lost's SUNDAY MADNESS! (Products only available when delivered by hand between the hours of 9:45 AM and 10:00 AM PST, June 19, 2011. Prices way way higher in Canada. Come early for even better deals. We're Cuuuuuuuurazzzzzzzzy about deals!)

Buy one now and keep it in your closet. Get the words you really want! Don't expect relatives to put that limerick on your tombstone that you're so fond of! Buy two now and surprise your loved one on their birthday.

Have asthma? Need help? Inhale our powder, cigarette, or pipe mixture! Easy to use! And while you're at it how about a tombstone? Reasonable prices! Today only!

Looking for that special gift for that person you follow down the city street each day? How about a fine piece of jewelry with your mug on it? You'll be there when they brush their teeth. You'll be there when they eat their breakfast. Guaranteed to slide on finger and never come off. (Ask about solution to take green tinge off fingers for additional 25 cents!)

Stuck on the farm with nothing to do? How about this lady with her genormous hand with the midget radio? Plays the hit song "Years for Nothing." (Requires car battery.)

Looking for free food? Or some etc? Rush your name and address for big ass't selection. Free! Absolutely FREE! (Shipping charges extra. Only $29.95 for first ounce. Each additional ounce $15.95! At these prices we'll be out of business before the celery rots!!!)

6/18/11

In which photo-play did actorDan Dailey, actress Anne Baxter, actress Betty Grable, and illustrator/comic book artist Ken Bald all appear together? You're looking at it. Only one of these "stars" is left, Ken Bald.

This comic appeared in the April 1949 Photoplay magazine.

Click on either image to see it larger.

Unless you're a fan of comic book art, you might not be aware of Ken Bald:

Kenneth Bruce Bald (born August 1, 1920) is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for the Judd Saxon, Dr. Kildare and Dark Shadows newspaper comic strips. Due to contractual obligations, he is credited as "K. Bruce" on the Dark Shadows strip

Early life and careerKen Bald was born in New York City, New York and raised in suburban Mount Vernon, New York. He attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for three years, then joined the Englewood, New Jersey studio of Jack Binder, one of the early comic-book "packagers" who would supply complete comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium. Beginning in 1942, during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books, Bald, via Binder, began drawing backup features for the prominent Fawcett Comics.

Creator credits were not routinely given during this era, and while historians have tentatively identified Bald as both penciler and inker of the 14-page Bulletman story "The Terror of the Iceberg" in Fawcett's Master Comics #26 (May 1942), his earliest confirmed credit is penciling the 16-page Captain America story "Ali Baba and His Forty Nazis" in Captain America Comics #32 (Nov. 1943), published by Marvel Comics precursor Timely Comics.

Going on staff at Timely, Bald drew stories of such superheroes as Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, the Blonde Phantom, the Destroyer, and Miss America variously through comics cover-dated July 1949. He both wrote and drew a number of Millie the Model humor stories in the comics Georgie and Patsy Walker, and at least drew the teen-humor character Cindy in Georgie and Judy Comics and Junior Miss.

Bald penciled the first appearance of the Sub-Mariner spin-off character Namora, in "The Coming of Namora" in Marvel Mystery Comics #82 (May 1947), but it is unclear if he helped create the character; the cover, which was sometimes created first, featured Namora draw by Bob Powell. Similarly, Bald drew Timely's single issue of The Witness (Sept. 1948), starring a character co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee, but the cover for which was drawn by Charles Nicholas. Bald, with an unidentified writer, co-created Timely the superhero Sun Girl, who starred in a three-issue series cover-dated August to December 1948.

His other comic-book work included the character Crime Smasher in Fawcett's Whiz Comics in the 1940s, and many anthological horror/suspense stories in American Comics Group's Adventures into the Unknown, The Clutching Hand, Forbidden Worlds and Out of the Night from 1949 through late 1954. Also for ACG, he co-created the adventure feature Time Travelers in Operation: Peril #1 (Nov. 1950)

PersonalBald and his wife, Kaye, have five children. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

6/17/11

Tough times. No doubt about it, tough times. Which jobs are on fire and which ones are cold? I have no idea other than to say the industry I work in is in flux and or taking it's dying breath. Don't want to think about it. Far too stressful. Soooooooooo...

I give you a job board of jobs offered in the April 1949 Photoplay magazine. Perhaps you'll find one that suits you.

Beneath a few of the ads you'll find links to interesting information, not necessarily about any of the companies.

6/14/11

This is just to let you know the reason you're here today is because long ago some people got together and taught each other HOW. Yes, granny and grandpa found out HOW. Great-granny and Great-grandpa knew HOW.

Today everything is in your face and people are far too blunt. There's never a question about someone's intentions and isn't that a shame. Far more suggestive lines can be found at the check-out stand on the front of a magazine, but somehow seeing these old cards with these suggestive lines seems so very strange. And then we add the message on the back...

say wes, what timedid you get home?I han’t seen thatcard yet, what is thematter, did I make you sick? Ha. Ha.do you thinkyou could teach me how? Ha. Ha.well write,let me knowif it willmake any differencewhen I come (???)them (???) are yougoing to the fair?ans soonLillian HowardLestershine, N.Y.Box 84 R.8.2.

I think this about says it all, nudge nudge, wink wink.

Okay, the fact that the room they're in doesn't actually exist, nor the chair/table /window /paintings, makes this even stranger. I'm thinking Toonville with Roger Rabbit.

SEARCH TATTERED AND LOST

Tattered and Lost: FORGOTTEN DOLLS

A journey via vintage snapshots through the world of dolls and their owners from the early part of the 20th century to the 1960s. This is volume 7 in the Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography series.

BUCKAROOS AND BUCKARETTES

Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes is a collection of vintage snapshots for those who remember riding the range when they were kids. These adventures usually consisted of sitting in front of a black and white television or running around the neighborhood with our shiny six-guns strapped to our sides. Our imaginations created entire worlds that never existed. We sang along with our heroes, convinced that with a song in our heart and a six-gun on our hip we could vanquish evil. This book is dedicated to all the other buckaroos and buckarettes who rode their imaginations into the sunset while humming Happy Trails.

CAKES, PICNICS, AND WATERMELON

Collecting vintage photographs starts out innocent enough with a few snapshots here and there, but at some point it becomes a bit more obsessive and you find yourself longing for the next image that makes you laugh or ponder the irrefutable confusion of being human. This book, Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon, the fourth in a series, shows the quirky world of sharing food from the 1890s to the 1970s in the United States. Sit back and enjoy watching people cut cakes (some people do it with such style!), go on picnics without your relatives, and watch people eat watermelon. Yes, eat watermelon. An odd category for sure, but one sure to make you smile.

Vernacular Photographs

Tattered and Lost: Vernacular Photographs, is volume 1 in my self-published books showing photos from my collection. Photographs play off each other on facing pages asking the viewer to come to their own conclusion as to what they are looking at. Included is a photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad S1 steam locomotive, designed by Raymond Loewy, on display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. And one of the few known copies of a photo taken by Rudolph D’Heureuse in 1863 proving there were indeed camels used by the U. S. Cavalry is included. So take a step back in time and visit with some folks who long ago smiled and said “cheese” never knowing how long those smiles would last.

TELLING STORIES

In need of writing prompts? Looking for a gift for a friend who loves vintage photographs? Tattered and Lost: Telling Stories is now available from CreateSpace and Amazon. Click on the image to find out more!

CHILDHOOD

A new and expanded edition of Tattered and Lost: Childhood. Available at CreateSpace and Amazon. Better price, more pages, larger trim size. Click on the image to read more about it.

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BOOKS FOR THOSE WHO LOVE EPHEMERA AND VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPHY

WHAT IS TATTERED AND LOST EPHEMERA?

Tattered and Lost EPHEMERA is about some of the items in my collection including: letters, postcards, valentines, menus, recipe books, children's books, magazines, greeting cards, paper dolls, vernacular / found photos, and whatever odd things I find stuck in the nooks and crannies of this house.

This site is affiliated with Tattered and Lost PHOTOGRAPHS.

So much paper, so little space.

About Tattered and Lost

Photographs of the ordinary by the ordinary.
All photos are from my private collection. They may NOT be used in any manner without my permission. I retain all copyrights for everything published on this site unless specified as belonging to someone else.